Bangladesh Judiciary has entered a ‘new institutional era’, says Chief Justice Refaat

Bangladesh’s judiciary has entered what the Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed has described as a “new institutional era”, marking a fundamental shift in how the justice system operates over the past 18 months.

Speaking at a seminar in Chattogram on Saturday, he said the transformation achieved through collective effort and constitutional clarity stands as a milestone in the country’s judicial history.

The seminar was organised jointly by the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), according to a Supreme Court media statement.

Refaat said the reform roadmap he unveiled on Sept 21, 2024, has served as a guiding commitment to ensure full judicial independence and reinforce public confidence in the courts.

With the enactment of the Supreme Court Secretariat Ordinance 2025, the longstanding dual administrative structure has been removed, giving the Supreme Court full administrative and financial autonomy for the first time, he added.

He said this shift now allows the judiciary to make its own staffing decisions, draft, and manage its budget, design training programmes, and formulate policies that can carry judicial reforms forward in a sustainable and long-term manner.

The chief justice added that the business community had long sought a dedicated commercial court for faster and modern resolution of commercial disputes, a demand that is now on the verge of being realised.

He said a Supreme Court research team drafted the initial commercial court law, which was later refined through roadshows across the country, close engagement with BIDA, and inputs from business law experts and commercial stakeholders.

“The European Union also provided crucial technical support,” he added. “After further review by the law ministry, the draft is now final and received cabinet approval on the 4th of December.”

Refaat said the draft legislation contains a clear definition of commercial disputes, provisions for establishing an adequate number of commercial courts, a separate appeal bench in the High Court, mandatory mediation, limited adjournments, summary procedures, transparent data publication, and specialised training for judges and lawyers.